Are You Able to Crack It? The Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Forged the Modern World
There are numerous contenders for the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a new book, however, that title should go to the automated timber mill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks working for 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber might be manufactured in less than a week.”
Thanks to this rapid automated cutter, that turned logs into boards using almost no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to build ships faster compared to anyone else, which sparked a century of Dutch maritime, financial as well as cultural supremacy across the continent and the globe.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s first authentic factory machine.” A windmill rotated a wheel. A single part transformed the rotary motion to up-and-down action to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed that same spinning movement into a lateral motion advancing the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the wood forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element was modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine these parts so they operated in a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every downward motion while advancing with each return motion. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
A fact that brings us to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the basic ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism that turns rotary motion to up-and-down action. You have these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing through which a single the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the parts don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time with the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s most impactful creation.
